In the very scenic world renowned Sierra Nevada mountains...in historic places, in the mountains & gulches, small towns and boomtowns along the pioneer "Golden Chain Highway" of the Mother Lode goldrush country...

http://www.washingtonhotel.net/ I would urge you to take a detour about 25 minutes out of nevada city and check out/ stay at the amazing washington hotel...a unique little town and the hotel is as authentic old west as you can get

I've taken that trip/route several times. But then I moved out of Fresno 13 years ago. Any info I have would be far out of date. I love going into old town Mariposa. My Dad drove a refrigarated delivery route that included Mariposa. I had my 1st sasparilla there and a great time with my dad. God I miss him.

Years ago I did Cal Hwy 49 from end to end, so I'm due to do it again...

The challenge is to find places I've eaten at before...sometimes the memory gets foggy, and sometimes places change hands and are renamed...I don't keep a log book...

And there's always new places to discover...(I'd weigh 500 pounds if I stopped at every food joint I drive by)...

One resource that I sometimes use is TV programs...one of my favorites is a PBS show called California's Gold (by Huell Howser Productions)...I don't know how widely this is seen outside California...The show often spotlights towns in the Sierra, and many of these towns change very little...

I'm a mountain man type, so these small towns are a favorite for me to visit...but there are also times I drive on backroads that have NO services of food available, such as when I drive up the Beckwourth Trail on my way up to the railroad yards...

His primary audience is school children...a non commercial tv station produces and distributes it, and you've seen the teachers associations that endorse it...so he'll emphasize and repeat key words...he could make a horse turd sound interesting...!!!

But folks of all ages can learn from it, and I place high value on that...good content and production values as a tv magazine...

I often draw inspiration from California's Gold, Eye On The Bay (KPIX-TV), and DDD (the spikey haired Guy)...and in times past Evening Magazine and Mac & Mutley before they folded (Eye On The Bay is a successor to Evening Magazine) Evening Magazine was later syndicated & franchised out as "PM Magazine"...

Even though I'm a native of this here state (CA) and have been lots of places...there's SO many more to explore with camera and picnic basket before jumping in my grave...and I often draw ideas from these shows...

I have a map of Calif...marked with an orange highlighter pen on EVERY road I've been on...and IF I get hit with boredom, I can always grab this map and hit the road and look for a place not yet traveled...

I'm trying to rememebr the name of the place in Murphy's that the great pies...